why dolphin-assisted therapy isn’t therapy lori marino neuroscience and behavioral biology program...
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Why Dolphin-Assisted Therapy Isn’t Therapy
Lori Marino Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program
Emory UniversityAtlanta, Georgia, USA
Ways that the public experiences dolphins in captivity
DOLPHIN ASSISTED
THERAPY (DAT)
INTERACTIVE or‘SWIM WITH DOLPHINS’
PROGRAMS
DISPLAYS SHOWS RECREATION
NON-INTERACTIVEVENUES
DAT programs are proliferating all across the globe
Is DAT therapy?
Therapy
• 1 : of or relating to the treatment of disease or disorders by remedial agents or methods
• 2 : providing or assisting in a cure
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary
The Key Features of Therapy
• There are specified goals and objectives for each individual.
• Progress is measured.
General DAT ScenarioDolphins are kept in a pool or in a gated enclosure.
Participants interact with the dolphin(s) by touching, feeding, swimming with, or riding on the dolphin(s).
There is always additional human contact and attentionby trainers/”therapists”/ etc. during the session.
There may be conventional remedial tasks employedduring the session.
Sessions can last for a few minutes to an hour and the whole “treatment” can last for either one session ormany sessions over several weeks.
DAT is expensive. The cost for 5-10 sessions is between $3,000 - $5,000 plus expenses.
DAT is unregulated and unaccredited. No professional training or certification is needed.
Kinds of ailments purported to be treatable by DAT include but are not
limited to:• Depression• Anxiety• Mental retardation• Autism• Downs Syndrome• Attention deficit disorder• Multiple sclerosis• Cerebral palsy• Anorexia• Cancer• AIDS• Blindness• Immune system disorders
How is DAT purported to work?
Increased concentration = Increased learning
Brain wave shift(“alpha-theta crossover”)
Sonar healing
Biophilia
DOLPHIN HUMAN THERAPY
Dr. David Nathanson
Dolphin Cove, Key Largo, Florida
DHT helps participants to improve rapidly and to become more independent. DHT does not cure or prevent injury, illness, or disability.
DHT is a private, professional organization dedicated to providing the highest quality rehabilitative therapy.
DHT treats all disabilities, including the severely and profoundly disabled.
Therapy is conducted once a day, Monday through Friday, for two to four weeks.
We have developed a rehabilitation system for patients suffering from neurological disorders (in adults- chronic fatigue syndrome, in children - conditions brought about by a negative influence of the environment, enuresis, logoneuroses, phobias, depression, neurosthenia, infantile autism syndrome and cerebral palsy) based mainly on the contact of the patients with specially trained Black Sea bottlenose dolphins.
Dolphin Assisted Therapy (D.A.T.) is a new and exciting field of modern medicine that some people categorize as part of the Animal therapy.
Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: Harnessing the Healing Effects of the Sea
The cost per person is $4,500 plus all expenses such as travel, hotel, transportation
and meals.
“...bioaquatic studies in the Bahamas...”
DAT proponents rely heavily on personal testimonials. This is a common practice
in pseudoscience.
“Dolphins helped my child”By Tory Milne
BBC News Online Staff
Claims made by DAT studies(in the peer-reviewed literature)
• Nathanson et al.(1997); Nathanson (1998)– (1) DAT significantly increases attention span,
motivation, and language skills – (2) DAT achieves these results more rapidly
and more cost- effectively than conventional therapy, and
– (3) DAT produces positive treatment effects that are maintained over a long-term period
(i.e. at least one year).
• Antonioli & Reveley (2005): Depression
• Webb & Drummond (2001): Anxiety• Servais (1999): Learning in autistic children
• Lukina (1999):improvement in nonspecific behaviors in children with “psychoneurological” dysfunction
• Iikura et al. (2001): Improved treatment for atopic dermatitis and pain relief
Critiques of DAT studies• Marino and Lilienfeld (1998): assessed two
studies
• Humphries (2003): assessed five studies“Claims of the effectiveness of using dolphins as a procedure for improving the behaviours of young children with disabilities are therefore not supported by available research evidence”.
• Marino and Lilienfeld (2007) – assessed five studies
All peer-reviewed published DAT studies have beenreviewed to date!
Marino and Lilienfeld (1998, 2007)
Is there any scientific evidence that DAT claims are valid?
We performed a methodological assessment of the
peer-reviewed studies. We applied standard criteria for
scientific validity from four established published
sources.
Marino and Lilienfeld (1998): found no less than 11 independent methodological
weaknesses in the studies that undermined the entire scientific validity of both.
Marino and Lilienfeld (2007): identified no less than 13 independent methodological flaws
across all five studies that undermined their scientific validity. No study had less than 5
weaknesses.
Common flaws in DAT studies due to lack of experimental control
• Nonspecific effects – improvement from effects not specific to the treatment
Placebo effects – improvement from expectationNovelty effects – “feel good” response to anything
new
• Construct confounding – inability to disentangle effects of dolphin and other components (attention by therapist, being in water, etc.)
• Experimenter expectancy effects – bias towards findings that are consistent with the researcher’s hypothesis
Is DAT therapy?
No
Are the theories about DAT even plausible?
Increased concentration = Increased learning
Brain wave shift(“alpha-theta crossover”)
Sonar healing
Biophilia
Potential Detrimental Impacts of DAT
• Exploitation of desperate parents
• Forestalling effective treatments
• Injuries to participants
• Disease transmission • Stress and negative affects on the
health of the dolphins (Brensing et al.)
• Impact of capture on wild populations
The Bottom Line...
There is a substantial potential for detrimental impacts of DAT on both humans and dolphins.
Viable, more valid, and safer therapies exist.
There is no scientific evidence for the claimsmade by DAT proponents.
DAT SHOULD BE TERMINATED